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Literal Holy Design Evolution, Batman!

Co.Design (Fast Company) has posted an incredible infographic/slideshow on their website detailing the various Batman logos used since 1940.

It’s epic, which is fairly obvious—it’s Batman!

I’m not a designer, but I like to think that I can appreciate good design. At the very least, I know what I like, and these designs are awesome, especially some of the vintage ones. To me, superheros are the kings of branding, even Batman, whom Co.Design took to task for not having “brand consistency.” True, the symbol has changed, but what’s it has stood for remains so consistent that we could call it a constant—Batman is vengeance and justice shrouded in mystery like he has always been. (I’m choosing to ignore the 1960’s TV series.)

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But what does this have to do with the Church?

You mean, beyond being totally awesome?

I think that many times in our rush to catch up with culture in the ways of design and excellence, which is important, we worry more about the branding than what our branding stands for. If the Church—and I’m speaking of the global, historical church, not a denomination—had remained consistent with Christ’s brand of self-less love wrapped in power, then our logos wouldn’t matter. We would have a brand built on constancy, not design quality.

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I’m not particularly a Batman fan. But, I do find the logos appealing. And, although many of the logo versions are nice and interesting, I prefer the very first one. It is the best.

Our church has a logo, but I am thinking of our faith in general, too. We have a logo and that is the cross. And, there are certainly a lot of variations on that one. Of course, the fish is a secondary logo for us. I haven’t seen as many versions of that, other than the inaccurate Darwin version.

Logos are fun and sometimes serve a good purpose, but you are right that of greater importance is the constancy of Christ’s brand of self-less love wrapped in power, regardless of human attempts at branding. 🙂